


Take Me Where I Cannot Stand

by Leonawriter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Claustrophobic Lance, F/M, Firefly References, M/M, Singing, Team as Family, established relationships - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 06:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9708764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: Lance needing the healing pod after coming back from a mission injured results in a sleepover in the common area, and Allura hears Shiro humming something the other Paladins seem to recognise.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The music came to me, and the idea wouldn't leave me alone. Even though it doesn't really come up, I see about, at least half a year, maybe a bit more, passing between the end of series two and this fic.

She hears Shiro humming into the quiet, and although it isn't exactly silent - how could it be with the Paladins using the main common area as a makeshift sleeping area? - everyone seems to notice the sound, turning their attention toward him.

Lance had started the entire affair, although it wasn't as though she could blame him. He'd been through a lot on the last mission, and had ended up in a bad enough state that Keith had had to carry him out. It would have been funny if they hadn't all been so  _worried_. And then of course they'd had to put him in a pod to recover, but the moment he was out, he was shaking - badly enough that they wondered if there was something  _else_ wrong that the pod hadn't healed.

He'd tried to wave away their concern, but that, of course, had been when Keith had remembered that ever since a certain incident, Lance had become claustrophobic. Afraid of small spaces. 

She first found out about the Paladins' plans when she saw Hunk dragging his bedding down a corridor. By the time he'd explained and they'd reached the common area, the others were already there, Lance talking with Pidge, while Shiro was helping Keith set things out.

She had immediately told Coran, and he had joined in with gusto, helping Hunk move anything that wasn't fixed so that they had more space, and sharing stories of sleepovers he'd been in when he'd been younger.

Eventually, everyone had settled down, and things had almost started to feel relaxed enough to sleep.

But now - that tune, the melody that Shiro was coming up with. It sounded so... bittersweet.

"What is that music? If you don't mind."

She might as well ask, since it wasn't as though she was waking anyone up, and she  _had to know._

He blinked, as though he hadn't realised he'd been humming, but then ducked his head with a smile.

 _"Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand,"_ he started, and Lance, in the middle of the group, huffed like he was trying not to laugh, while Keith smiled wistfully.  _"I don't care, I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me."_

There's silence for a few ticks as the sound of Shiro's voice fades, and she has to admit - it's a voice she could stand to hear singing more often. He has just the right timbre for some of the old Altean ballads.

"That was beautiful," she finally says, the words coming out more as a whisper than anything. "Did you come up with it yourself?"

"Huh? Oh, uh - no. It's actually from an old TV show I watched through with Keith once. I just... I thought it fitted."

"Wait - Shiro, you watched  _Firefly?"_ Hunk didn't even bother to sit up or lean on an elbow to say his bit. He just spoke to the ceiling, hands folded behind his head. "Man, that's so cool. Lance made us marathon it on Pidge's computer when we were supposed to be studying. Remember?"

"How can I forget."

Pidge's voice comes over dry, but amused. Allura smiles at the reminder of how close so many of her Paladins are, and how far back some of the bonds go.

"But there's more, though."

Keith, who'd mostly been quiet, was still smiling, looking at nothing in particular.

"More?" She directed the question at Shiro, who shrugged. 

 _"Take me out to the black,"_ he continues after clearing his throat, now sounding more self-conscious but he eases back into the song well enough.  _"Tell 'em I ain't coming back."_  She notices that Keith has started to move his mouth along to the words, eyes closed and hand moving to that of the Blue Paladin, who seems to have already fallen asleep.  _"Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."_

Despite herself, she shivers. 

_What sort of story would they share in such a way that tells of horrors like that? How could they possibly know what it's like to lose your home, to lose everything - and only have a ship?_

Coran sends her a heartfelt look from across the room, but what helps the most is the unexpected arm pulling her in close. 

_"There's no place I can be, since I found serenity - but you can't take the sky from me."_

She's started crying - her, the princess, the one who was supposed to lead and direct Voltron. Her, the one sitting up in a room full of Paladins in their pyjamas, dressed no differently, enveloped in her Black Paladin's embrace.

"When you can't walk, you crawl," she hears Keith say quietly as he lies down at last. "And when you can't crawl, you get someone to carry you."

"What, like you carried Lance?"

Keith grunted. "Shut up and sleep, Pidge."

It takes another few doboshes before things have truly calmed down again.

"Sorry," she hears Shiro say, just loudly enough that only she can, given how close they are still. "I didn't mean to make things hard for you."

She shakes her head. 

"No - I don't mind. It was beautiful, really. So. _Thank you_."

She feels his breath catch, and then he sighs.

"Sleep well, princess."


End file.
